Video Game Presentations

We gave our video game presentation last Friday during lab, and I think it went very well. Though our project is a simple concept of a internet game, it has a lot of different components that make it fun to play and inviting to investors. We tried our hardest to give an example of every situation which would show the audience all the different aspects of the game. Of course, our presentation could not be perfect and we forgot to mention a few things, or some ideas were simply not received by the audience.

The first thing that we had trouble getting across to the audience is the concept of health in OU Adventure. At first we tried to come up with a way to incorporate food into the video game, because the 'drunk food' scene on many campuses, especially ours, is a large part of a bar-goer's night. We decided first that Beer in the game would be the player's health, and when he lost health in fights he would drink more beer to regain life. But then we decided that it was kind of a dumb concept, and then we put grub into the game for the health aspect, changing the beer items in the game so that they instead fuel your 'mana', or in this case, beer muscles.

Another factor of the game that was difficult to get across was the different course of gameplay. At first, when first conceiving the idea for the game, we thought that the game should be linear in playability, like many level/mission based side-scrollers. We figured it would make the most sense if it played out like a normal night for a fratstar, starting at a house party, then accidentally finding himself in a townie bar, then ending up at The Crystal for last call (boosting hi-score), then finally battling the notorious elements of Court Street past 2 in the morning, trying to get home safe and sound (and without a broken phone or missing credit card). But then we played with the idea of making the level selection up to the players. We wanted more freedom in the game, so that players got a sense of control and possibly more enjoyment because of that.

The easiest element to explain to the audience would have to be the mechanics. Our controls are so simple, you can do it with one hand on the keyboard. Of course, you can always purchase our frat-tastic usb controller. For the most part, the controls include the movement feature, a jump button, an action button, and a punch (attack) button. These concepts were the easiest to explain to the class, and set the tone for clear understanding throughout the presentation.

We were very enthusiastic about this game design, it was more than a class assignment to us.